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What is ISO 9000?
The term
ISO 9000
refers
to a set of quality
management standards. ISO 9000 currently
includes three quality standards: ISO 9000:2005,
ISO 9001:2000, and
ISO 9004:2000. ISO 9001:2000
presents requirements, while ISO
9000:2005 and
ISO 9004:2000 present guidelines. All of these are
process standards
(not product standards).
ISO first published its quality standards in 1987,
revised them in 1994, and then republished an
updated version in 2000. These
new standards
are referred to as the "ISO 9000 2000 Standards".
The
ISO 9000 Standards apply to all kinds
of organizations in
all kinds of areas. Some of
these areas include
manufacturing, processing,
servicing, printing, forestry,
electronics, steel,
computing, legal services, financial
services,
accounting, trucking, banking, retailing,
drilling,
recycling, aerospace, construction,
exploration,
textiles, pharmaceuticals, oil and gas, pulp
and
paper, petrochemicals, publishing,
shipping,
energy,
telecommunications, plastics, metals,
research,
health
care, hospitality, utilities, pest
control, aviation, machine tools,
food processing,
agriculture, government, education,
recreation,
fabrication, sanitation, software
development,
consumer products, transportation,
design,
instrumentation, tourism,
communications,
biotechnology, chemicals, engineering,
farming, entertainment, horticulture,
consulting, insurance, and so on.
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How does ISO 9001
Work?
Here's how it works. You decide that you need to
develop a
quality management system that meets
the new
quality
standard. That's
your mission.
You
choose to follow this path because you feel
the need to
control or improve the quality of your
products and
services, to reduce the
costs
associated with poor
quality, or to become more
competitive. Or, you choose
this path simply
because your customers expect you to do
so
or because a governmental body has made
it mandatory. You then develop a quality
management system
that meets the
requirements specified by ISO 9001:2000
(ISO 9002 and 9003 have been dropped).
In the course of doing so, you may also wish
to consult the ISO 9000:2005
and ISO 9004:2000
guidelines. However, please remember that your
quality management system must meet ISO's
requirements,
not its guidelines.
But how do you develop such a
quality
management
system? There are at least two
approaches. You can do either a
Gap Analysis
or follow a detailed System Development
Plan.
If you've already got a quality management system
and you're happy with the way it operates, then we
suggest that you use a Gap Analysis to upgrade to
the new
ISO 9001 2000 standard. A
Gap Analysis
will tell you
exactly what you need to do to
meet
the ISO 9001 2000
Quality Management Standard.
It will help
you identify the gaps that exist between
the
new ISO
Standard and
your organization's
processes. Once you know where the gaps are,
you
can take steps to fill your gaps. By following
this incremental approach, you will not only
comply with the new ISO 9001 Standard, but you
will
also improve the overall performance of
your organization's processes.
However, if you don't have a quality management
system
or you're not happy with the one you've
got, then we suggest that you use our
ISO 9001
2000 Process Oriented Quality Management
System Development Plan to develop your quality
management system. If
you follow the detailed
steps that make up our System Development Plan,
you'll
end up with a quality management
system
that will meet your needs and ISO's
requirements.
Once
your quality management system has been
fully developed and
implemented, you carry out
an Internal Audit
to ensure that you've met every
single ISO 9001 2000
requirement.
When you're
ready, you ask a Registrar to audit
the effectiveness of your
quality
management
system. If your
auditors like what they see, they
will certify that your
quality system has met ISO's
requirements. They
will then issue an official
certificate to you and they
will record your
achievement in their registry.
You can
then announce to the world that the
quality of your
products and services is managed,
controlled, and assured
by a registered ISO 9001
Quality Management System!
However,
you don't have to be registered. ISO
does not require
formal registration (certification).
You can be in
compliance without being registered
by an accredited
auditor. But, your customers are
more likely to believe
that you have an effective
quality management system if an independent
external auditor says so.
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Why
is ISO 9001 Important?
ISO 9001 is important because
of its orientation.
While the content itself
is useful and
important,
the content alone does not account
for its widespread appeal.
ISO 9001 is important because
of its international
orientation.
Currently, ISO 9001 is supported by
national standards
bodies from
more than 120
countries. This makes it the logical choice for any
organization that does business internationally
or that serves
customers who demand
an international standard of quality.
ISO 9001 is also important because
of its systemic
orientation.
We think this is crucial. Many people
in this field wrongly emphasize
motivational and
attitudinal factors. The assumption is that quality
can only be created if workers are motivated and
have the right
attitude. This is fine, but it doesn't
go far enough. Unless you institutionalize
the right
attitude by
supporting it with the right
policies,
procedures, records, technologies, resources, and
structures,
you will never achieve the standards of
quality that other
organizations seem to be able to
achieve. Unless you establish a
quality attitude by
creating a quality system, you will never achieve
a world-class standard of quality.
Simply put,
if you want to have a quality
attitude
you must have a
quality system. This is what ISO
recognizes, and this is
why ISO 9000 is important.
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